Who Knew About Frodo’s Ring?

[Alcuin]

It’s quiet. Too quiet. So on to something new.

Who knew about Frodo’s Ring? This is a follow-on to the earlier thread, “Who Knew about Bilbo’s Ring?�

Starting from the end of The Hobbit, I think we can begin to track who knew about Frodo’s odd inheritance from Bilbo. Just to review: Bilbo told the Dwarves, though not the whole truth about how he got it: he told them Gollum gave it to him as a present. (That’s the original version in early editions of The Hobbit, btw.) He also told Gandalf, though how much he told Gandalf is unclear; but I think that by the time Gandalf and Bilbo reached Rivendell in the spring of the year after the Battle of Five Armies, the wizard knew most of the story directly from Bilbo, and was able correctly surmise whatever was left out either intentionally or “accidentally on purpose.� In fact, I think the Elvenking’s parting comments to Bilbo indicate that either Gandalf told him, too, or else he’d figured it. (See the aforementioned thread for more.) There can be little doubt that Gandalf soon told Elrond, probably while he tarried at Rivendell with Bilbo, or else soon after: not consulting Elrond would be a grave error: they were both Keepers of the Three, and the discovery of another Great Ring affected both of them both personally and “professionally.� I think there is reason to believe the survivors of Thorin & Co. told Dáin Ironfoot, but what they could tell him was probably limited and perhaps garbled; at any rate, they knew little except that it existed and that it made Bilbo invisible; and for this discussion, it is not significant, other than that Dáin and his counselors gave no indication to Sauron’s emissary (one of the Nine?) that they knew anything, if indeed they did.

So let’s start with how things stood at the end of Bilbo’s Farewell Party.

We know Bilbo told Frodo: Frodo tells Gandalf that himself in their conversation at Bag End shortly after the Farewell Party. (“A Long-expected Party�) That happened soon after Frodo moved to Bag End with Bilbo in III Age 2989 (Shire Reckoning 1389), twelve years before the Farewell Party. The year before the Farewell Party, Merry sees Bilbo use the Ring to avoid the Sackville-Bagginses. (“Conspiracy Unmasked�)

By this time, I imagine both Gandalf and Elrond communicated with Galadriel about the Ring. They might not have yet known which of the Great Rings it was, but they knew it had to be one of the Seven – or the One. I cannot imagine that Galadriel withheld that information from her partner and consort for more than two Ages of Middle-earth, Celeborn.

So at this point, we can add Frodo, Merry, Galadriel, and Celeborn to our count.

And now, we have the Farewell Party. W00t! W00t!